In 2002, my husband and I bought three and a half acres in the coastal mountains of Southern California, at an elevation of 3100 feet. When we finished building, I started planting and it has been quite a challenge.
I’m a California native who grew up and lived most of my life in suburbia. I was used to growing citrus and bougainvillaea and avocados. None of them grew up here. I haven’t been able to figure out what zone I live in — the maps put me in the same group as the desert below us. But, we are 10 degrees cooler up here and the winters are bitter cold (for California anyway). We start getting frost in late September and it often continues into May. The summer days are hot (80s and 90s) but the nights are always chilly. I have learned to only grow early varieties of tomatoes and to forget about melons.
In addition to the challenges of weather, we have a whole host of wildlife as well. I love the wild life for the most part — who can resist bunnies on the lawn? But, they destroy any plants they can get to. Gophers, rabbits, and ground squirrels are my biggest challenge.
I subscribe to a CSA farm down the mountain and that is where I get all my vegetables. Since they come from an organic farm, I don’t feel the need to plant a whole huge garden. Now, I usually limit my summer garden to the “must haves” of our palates: tomatoes, beets, strawberries, herbs and artichokes.
I am also an avid horse person (the reason we moved to this rural community) so my free time (I still work full time) is split between my horse, the other animals, gardening, cooking, blogging and writing poetry.